The Athens-based Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) has announced a five-year, $15 million commitment to help launch a child mental health program in Greece.

The program, to be developed with support of the Greek Ministry of Health and in collaboration with the U.S.-based Child Mind Institute, aims to empower frontline healthcare professionals and, by extension, help young people and their families manage their mental health in a timely and appropriate manner. Part of SNF’s more than $500 million Health Initiative to enhance the health sector in Greece, the program also will establish partnerships and synergies with hospitals, institutions, and mental health professionals across the country. The network’s hub will be housed in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit of the SNF University Pediatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, which is under construction and expected to be completed in 2025.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses not only of national health systems, but also of mental healthcare infrastructure,” said SNF co-president Andreas Dracopoulos. “However, it also brought about one—perhaps the only—positive change: it helped fight the stigma that accompanies mental illness. All of us at SNF are here to support, to the best of our ability, the work of mental health professionals specializing in child and adolescent care and to help improve young people’s access to mental health services, regardless of where they live or their financial status. Mental health services should not be a luxury or a privilege reserved for only a few, but a given for anyone who needs them, starting in childhood.”

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